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Olympic athletes meet school children on Toronto tour

At Kensington Community School, Olympian Josh Binstock was grilled by elementary students on his personal cell phone storage habits, his nerves, and his band-aid usage.

Triathlete Paula Findlay, centre, and cyclist Jasmin Glaaesser, right, were among the athletes who met with Toronto schoolchildren on Thursday (RENE JOHNSTON / TORONTO STAR) | Order this photo

By Katie DaubsStaff Reporter

Thu., Sept. 20, 2012

At Kensington Community School, Olympian Josh Binstock was grilled by elementary students on his personal cell phone storage habits, his nerves, and his band-aid usage.

Binstock, 6'5", who represented Canada at beach volleyball, was one of 200 Olympic and Paralympic athletes touring Toronto on Thursday as part of the “Celebration of Excellence,” a tour that took the athletes around the city to visit the people who cheered them on back home while they were in London.

Wearing some red Olympic gear and towering over nearly everybody in the room, Binstock told the enraptured crowd how he played beach volleyball in front of Buckingham Palace as 15,000 people cheered against him for the hometown British squad.

Binstock asked the group about favourite athletes. When one child said “Jamaican,” Binstock did a Usain Bolt impression to confirm.

During the question-and-answer period, the questions were wide-ranging.

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“Where does Josh keep his phone?” a kindergarten student asked.

“Do you keep it in your pocket?” principal Jennifer Wilton offered.

“I do,” said a smiling Binstock.

(Later, the children would discover that the phone does not fall out of his pocket when he plays because he removes it for matches.)

“Why does your partner have one bare foot and one sock?” one student asked after the group watched a video of Binstock and Martin Reader during a match.

“At the beginning of the season, he hurt his toe pretty badly. He has to wear the sock so his toe won’t be separated from his other toes,” he explained.

The students were also curious about Reader’s headband, which Binstock informed them had two purposes: the practical, of course, to keep the sweat at bay. And of course, style. “You gotta have style,” Binstock told the 120 students, who were wearing green and yellow for spirit day.

“Do you ever need Band Aids?” came the next voice from the room, still dark from the video watching.

“One time I hurt my finger and put a Band Aid on. It helped,” he said.

“Do you ever get nervous?” someone asked.

For sure, he said. “Don’t be afraid to be nervous. It means that you care,” he told the students.

Initially, the school was expecting badminton player Alexandra Bruce. Some kids had “Welcome Alexandra” on their headbands. One teacher brought birdies. Construction paper Olympic rings stapled together decorated the library But children are adaptive, and Binstock, who is a 31-year-old chiropractor from Richmond Hill, was a hit, telling the kids that he didn’t even know about volleyball when he was young, and “it’s never too late to do something that you love.”

When Binstock told the students that he was looking forward to a rematch with Brazil at the next Olympics, one student yelled out “You show them who’s boss!”

At the end, when Wilton presented Binstock with a homemade welcome sign, he told the students that his friends would be jealous.

Binstock only returned to Canada this week, and said it was “awesome” to have “kids looking up to you.” He'd never spoken with students that young before.

Principal Jennifer Wilton said it really was one of “those moments” as an educator when you feel like it’s the best job in the world, “when kids are so inspired and happy.”

Kensington Community School is affected by the ongoing labour unrest – the school’s cross-country team is “on hold” – but that did not have any effect on Thursday’s festivities.

The Olympic and Paralympic tour of Toronto is equal parts class reunion and class trip for the 200 athletes, a chance to catch up and share stories about how some mothers showcase their children’s medals at the grocery store.

The packed day started early at the Mattamy Athletic Centre with a breakfast with 100 students, eager to meet the athletes and load up on donuts.

“Is it the guy with the mohawk?” she asked excitedly. “Is it the guy with the hair like this?” she asked, making a swoop that seemed to implicate fencer Etienne Lalonde-Turbide.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut began the breakfast with the time-honoured tradition of naming a group (in this case, KidSport and the Boys and Girls Club) and asking them to cheer louder than other groups. He built up the momentum until the screaming was loud enough to “wake up the adults.”

“You guys want to see something cool?” Glaesser asked the kids at her table as she unfurled her bronze medal, slightly tangled with some headphones, from her canvas tote.

“It's so heavy,” Gesmundo said.

The athletes will continue their tour, visiting 50 schools, several hospitals, Ronald McDonald House and the University of Toronto. A parade is scheduled for Friday.

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